West Hill Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

West Hill Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

The school serves a small and close-knit community.

Relationships between staff and pupils are professional, positive and warm. Staff know pupils and their families well. Pupils' safety and well-being is treated with the utmost importance by staff.

Pupils know that they have lots of adults at school who will help them with any worries or concerns.

Pupils are taught the school's three simple rules: 'Ready, Respectful, Safe' which are followed consistently across the school. Staff are role models of the behaviour that is expected and motivate pupils to try their best.
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For example, 'recognition boards' in classrooms are used to praise positive behaviour and pupils strive keenly to achieve awards such as 'star of the week'. Pupils are generally polite and respectful. They try hard in lessons to reach leaders' expectations and want to do well.

The school offers a range of opportunities for pupils to try different activities. Many pupils attend various after-school clubs, such as dance, board games, sports and art. Pupils have the chance to showcase their musical talents, for example, in a singing concert with other local schools at the Royal Albert Hall.

Pupils in Year 6 have opportunities to try new activities, including DJing, through partnerships with a local school.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The school has gone through a period of change since the previous inspection. With the support of the governing body, leaders have brought stability to the school and made sustainable improvements.

Curriculum development is at the heart of this and the school is in the process of reviewing the curriculum. Staff are well supported by leaders. They are working hard to implement curriculum changes as they know this will benefit their pupils.

Some changes are not embedded, including the use of checks to measure what pupils know and remember over time. Pupils generally demonstrate a secure understanding of what they have been taught. In recent national assessments at the end of Year 6, pupils' attainment was in line with national averages.

All pupils learn a wide range of subjects. They benefit from specialist teachers in subjects like physical education and music. Staff receive regular training that supports them to deliver the new curriculum and refine their practice.

For example, staff spoke about recent training on using a consistent approach to recap previous teaching at the start of lessons. This helps pupils to recall what they have learned and apply this knowledge to new learning. For example, pupils in geography in Year 4 used a globe to revise their previous learning about features such as the equator and tropics before moving on to learning about different regions and countries in Africa.

In subjects where the curriculum is more established, subject content is planned out logically to develop pupils' knowledge over time. In mathematics for instance, learning is broken down into small steps and builds on what pupils have learned before. Teachers give pupils opportunities to practise what they have learned to help embed knowledge in their long-term memory.

For example, pupils in Years 2 to 6 have short daily sessions to improve their fluency in using multiplication tables. Children in the early years are well prepared for Year 1 and beyond. Children in Reception enjoyed ordering numbers with the help of a puppet 'Tony Tiger'.

They identified which numbers came next in a 'staircase' sequence, explaining which number was one more than the previous one.

The school identifies pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) accurately and at an early stage. Sometimes, teaching is not as well adapted as it could be to meet pupils' needs and abilities, including for pupils with SEND.

On occasion, this affects some pupils' concentration in class and they become restless and their attention wanes. Pupils' behaviour for the most part is positive and classrooms are calm and orderly. Staff manage any incidents of inattentiveness effectively to avoid interruptions to learning the curriculum.

Reading is a daily part of school life here. The school uses a range of strategies to encourage pupils to read widely, such as visits from authors, attendance at local reading events where pupils can listen to poets and visits to the local library. Pupils start learning to read as soon as possible.

Staff are well trained in delivering the phonics programme. Pupils in Reception and Year 1 have daily phonics lessons and read books to practise the sounds they have learned. Staff identify any pupils who may be falling behind.

They help them to catch up quickly and become fluent readers.

Rates of attendance are high. The school tracks attendance carefully to identify any pupils whose attendance is a cause for concern.

Staff work with families to address any barriers to regular school attendance. Pupils are taught to respect different points of view and to do the right thing including through class discussions. Pupils in Year 5 for example, debated the ethics of demolishing a block of flats to create a public park.

The school broadens pupils' experiences by taking them on educational outings to various museums and places of interest in London.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Leaders are in the process of reviewing the curriculum across the school.

Some changes to the curriculum are not fully embedded. As a result, some variability remains in delivery of new curriculum content and in the use of assessment to identify and address gaps in pupils' knowledge. The school should continue to embed the new curriculum.

• Sometimes, when teaching is not routinely well adapted for pupils' abilities and needs, including those with SEND, some pupils' concentration falters. The school should sharpen the adaptation of teaching so that the needs of all pupils are met securely across the curriculum.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in September 2014.

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